My specifics, need help regarding med school

[Wooderson14]

thanks for all the advice I received. i was told I need to put specifics in order to properly judge my chances. My GPA is a low 2.7 and I got a 19 on my MCAT. Im retaking the MCAT this aug, but i want to know if graduate school is the best choice for me. Thank you.

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[ariel winter]

no, i do not think graduate school would be the best choice for you. understand that due to your low 2.7 GPA, it would take a near perfect graduate GPA to boost your overall GPA to a number to be even considered by medical schools. it is for this reason that i urge you to look into caribbean medical schools. reputable ones include st. george, auc, ross, saba, and st. matthews. good luck!

thanks for all the advice I received. i was told I need to put specifics in order to properly judge my chances. My GPA is a low 2.7 and I got a 19 on my MCAT. Im retaking the MCAT this aug, but i want to know if graduate school is the best choice for me. Thank you.

 

[letsrun4it]

Yea this will be real uphill for you. If you are capable (maybe you didnt study at all) of a 30+ MCAT score its still possible to get into a US allopathic school. If you cannot do better than 19 with your GPA your only choice would be caribbean.

If you are capable of 30+ then get that, then go to HES where they'll sponsor you if you take a bunch of classes with B or better (with 30+ MCAT for your gpa)

Bottom line: Score 30+ MCAT, go to HES and get sponsored, then you'll almost surely have an osteopathic acceptance. If you're set on US allopathic you could do SMP at that point.

It will be a long haul...or go carribean, especially if family practice mainly interests you.

 

[jokii2ash]

yeah Im in the same boat as wooderson... I dont know what to do. Me and you wooderson got a lot in common. I have a BS in Psychobiology and 2.6 GPA, and a 2.20 science GPA and an MCAT of 19. I've looked into foreign med. schools too. I'm just kinda lost right now. Can anyone shine some light on me?

 

[Law2Doc]

Yea this will be real uphill for you. If you are capable (maybe you didnt study at all) of a 30+ MCAT score its still possible to get into a US allopathic school. If you cannot do better than 19 with your GPA your only choice would be caribbean.

If you are capable of 30+ then get that, then go to HES where they'll sponsor you if you take a bunch of classes with B or better (with 30+ MCAT for your gpa)

Bottom line: Score 30+ MCAT, go to HES and get sponsored, then you'll almost surely have an osteopathic acceptance. If you're set on US allopathic you could do SMP at that point.

It will be a long haul...or go carribean, especially if family practice mainly interests you.

I'm not sure this is right. Folks who go to HES/HCP usually haven't taken the MCAT yet. They take/retake the prereqs there and then sit for the MCAT. I don't know if you can get sponsored otherwise -- could be wrong, although I'm sure you can just take classes open enrollment without sponsorship option. And the prior poster who suggested that graduate grades can boost an undergrad GPA is not correct -- they are forever separate.
The OP won't have a prayer at an allo school with a 2.7, no matter what the MCAT. The only option in terms of allo schools are to start taking courses in some form of informal postbac until the GPA is higher, perhaps then topping it off with an SMP or hard science masters. And the OP must score well on the MCAT after that. Numbers can likely be slightly lower for DO, but still need to be higher than what the OP has now. The advantage of DO track is that retaken courses are treated as replacing the old in the GPA, so the GPA goes up much faster than a straight average (as required for allo schools). There is always the carribean option, but it has its own disadvantages, dealt with adequately on other boards.

 

[letsrun4it]

I'm not sure this is right. Folks who go to HES/HCP usually haven't taken the MCAT yet. They take/retake the prereqs there and then sit for the MCAT. I don't know if you can get sponsored otherwise -- could be wrong, although I'm sure you can just take classes open enrollment without sponsorship option. And the prior poster who suggested that graduate grades can boost an undergrad GPA is not correct -- they are forever separate.
The OP won't have a prayer at an allo school with a 2.7, no matter what the MCAT. The only option in terms of allo schools are to start taking courses in some form of informal postbac until the GPA is higher, perhaps then topping it off with an SMP or hard science masters. And the OP must score well on the MCAT after that. Numbers can likely be slightly lower for DO, but still need to be higher than what the OP has now. The advantage of DO track is that retaken courses are treated as replacing the old in the GPA, so the GPA goes up much faster than a straight average (as required for allo schools). There is always the carribean option, but it has its own disadvantages, dealt with adequately on other boards.

HES has many upper division "medical science" courses that one can take to earn the sponsorship. In order to get it with a GPA below 3.0 one must also score 30+ on the MCAT. I was saying that if you score 30 thats an option otherwise you'd never be able to earn sponsorship rendering HES unhelpful in getting into medical school.

All I was trying to say is if you cant dominate the MCAT it will be an extremely uphill battle. If you can work your GPA up to 3.0+ and science gpa that high as well then maybe you can convince someone.

 

[the alchemist]

no, i do not think graduate school would be the best choice for you. understand that due to your low 2.7 GPA, it would take a near perfect graduate GPA to boost your overall GPA to a number to be even considered by medical schools. it is for this reason that i urge you to look into caribbean medical schools. reputable ones include st. george, auc, ross, saba, and st. matthews. good luck!

graduate school will NOT boost that UG gpa since the graduate and UG GPAs are counted separately for both AMCAS (MD) and AACOMAS (DO) applications to med schools. the only way 2 make that UG GPA go up is with post-bacc classes which r counted toward the UG GPA - and that still depends on how many bad UG grades the OP had - if its 4 years of college worth, then the OP would have 2 take a significant amount of PB classes 2 even dent that GPA in an upward direction. i would 1st suggest retaking the MCAT and getting a higher score if possible.

 

[Law2Doc]

graduate school will NOT boost that UG gpa since the graduate and UG GPAs are counted separately for both AMCAS (MD) and AACOMAS (DO) applications to med schools. the only way 2 make that UG GPA go up is with post-bacc classes which r counted toward the UG GPA - and that still depends on how many bad UG grades the OP had - if its 4 years of college worth, then the OP would have 2 take a significant amount of PB classes 2 even dent that GPA in an upward direction. i would 1st suggest retaking the MCAT and getting a higher score if possible.

The OP got a very low score on the MCAT and with the GPA, to me suggests not really having a mastery of the sciences. It would be futile to take the MCAT again yet. It's not like folks jump from a 19 to a 30+ every day without doing something substantial in between (besides studying for a few months). The usual jump is closer to 3 points, and we are suggesting to the OP that he/she needs more than 11. Thus the OP needs to take and retake science courses for an A for a while. Retaking courses will help boost the GPA significantly for DO, as the prior grade will not be looked at in the average (I think). And it will help prepare the OP for future MCAT tests. Then, once the OP is solidly performing in the sciences, he/she is ready to try the MCAT again. That's my 2 cents.

 

[priam18]

What's an HES....

 

[microgin]

What's an HES....

Harvard Extension School

 

[Sundarban1]

One thing to keep in mind for HES is that if your GPA is below 2.5 and you are actually accepted, you will have to complete at least 32 credits to attain sponsorship. Usually this means repeating all of your pre-med classes.

 

[the alchemist]

The OP got a very low score on the MCAT and with the GPA, to me suggests not really having a mastery of the sciences. It would be futile to take the MCAT again yet. It's not like folks jump from a 19 to a 30+ every day without doing something substantial in between (besides studying for a few months). The usual jump is closer to 3 points, and we are suggesting to the OP that he/she needs more than 11. Thus the OP needs to take and retake science courses for an A for a while. Retaking courses will help boost the GPA significantly for DO, as the prior grade will not be looked at in the average (I think). And it will help prepare the OP for future MCAT tests. Then, once the OP is solidly performing in the sciences, he/she is ready to try the MCAT again. That's my 2 cents.

yes, i do agree that the OP should take the mcat after ADEQUATE prep in the material and if ur science background is shaky, then a post-bacc (u would take all the requirements 4 the mcat in a post-bacc) might not b a bad idea - and all the grades from post-bacc WOULD go into raising that UG gpa if u do well! there r many post-bacc programs out there 2 though cost may b an issue.

 

[Wooderson14]

Thanks for the input, I know im capable of getting a 30 but i do not know what HES is. is that some sort of program? and how would i apply to this program.
Thanks